Sunday Reflections

By: Fr. Romy Miano

WE THANK FR. FERNANDO SUAREZ FOR HIS VISIT

(… and the lessons that we can learn from that wonderful experience!)

A tearful mother once brought her young daughter to their pastor, “Father, my daughter has been married for five years now. But doctors could not understand why she cannot conceive. Please, Father, pray over her. She and her husband are desperate to have a baby.” The priest obligingly touched the girl’s belly and offered some prayers. Two months later, the mother was back in the church. After the mass she approached the priest and, filled with innocence and joy, said, “Father, my daughter has finally conceived. Thank you for getting her pregnant, Father!” The churchgoers who heard it suddenly froze, all eyes were on their pastor. A few of them hurriedly made a sign of the cross and darted out of the church, vowing never to come back to church ever again.

On April 25, 2008 Fr. Fernando Suarez, a healing Filipino catholic priest based in Canada, visited our parish here to conduct a healing mass. The total number of people who flocked to our parish (more than 5,000) was astounding. As a priest I always maintain an attitude of healthy skepticism. I try to be very careful in what I tell people especially when it comes to supernatural phenomenon like physical healing, even if it is done in the name of God. Or, should I say, especially (!) when God’s name is invoked. Why? It is because I am a priest, and some people look up to us priests for spiritual guidance. Hence, I don’t right away jump with joy when somebody comes and claim that he or she has a power from God to cure all kinds of illness. Priests must be careful not to lead people to some kind of superstition: a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance.

But on that Friday night, I found it so hard not to believe that Fr. Suarez has that very extraordinary gift of healing. As he touched, embraced, held the sick, I saw with my two eyes a lot of them started falling down; their knees just seemed to wobble and some lost consciousness for a couple of seconds. The most surreal sight of all was when some of those on their wheel chair, after Fr. Suarez held their hand and asked them to stand up, went away pushing their own wheelchair. How could you explain that?

I wonder why God gives that kind of physical healing power to some people like Fr. Suarez. In his homily during the mass, Fr. Suarez kept reminding the people that it was God Himself who did the healing. And that the Eucharist, the greatest gift of Jesus to His church, has always been the source of a deeper kind of healing. All healings should lead the person to the faith in the power of the Eucharist. Thus, although people came to be healed of their particular illness, I guess some of them did not experience the kind of healing that they had wanted. Probably their cancer was still there, the pain and aches were not alleviated. But I believe everybody went home with some kind of healing in many different ways. God always has a plan for every one and for everything. Perhaps some of them would ultimately die of their illness. But if they would just begin to open up their hearts to the true message behind all this, they would experience a deeper kind of healing…that of the spirit.

Today is the Solemnity of our Lord’s Ascension. Before he went back to his Father in heaven after his resurrection, Jesus made a promise to his followers: “I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

Physical healing is not the end in itself. It is just a sign to a much bigger reality: that God is truly present in the world. That in this age of advanced technology especially in medicine, miracles still happen. God is reminding those who claim that everything can be explained by science that God really has power over our life, and our health. You see, there is more to physical healing. The most important kind of healing is spiritual. In fact the healthier is our spirit, the greater is the chance that we enjoy physical well-being.

I believe there are two explanations why God allows us to experience miraculous physical healing. First, we receive healing because of our faith. Second, we experience miracles like this because we lack the faith. Yes, you read this right. Some of those who came to see Fr. Suarez were surely people of great faith. And they were ready to accept it if they or their sick loved ones would not receive the healing that they wanted. They would still continue to hold on to their faith because physical healing was not everything for them. But I am also sure that others, even a few of those who came, did not even go to church on Sundays. But even if they did not have enough faith, it was still possible for them to experience healing. It is because God, through their healing experience, wanted to invite them closer to Him.

The Holy Eucharist is always our source of healing …physical, emotional, spiritual. After all it is Jesus Himself who is the Divine Healer. And Jesus is in the Eucharist: “I am with you always, until the end of the age.” With the visit of Fr. Suarez, who shared to us his healing gift, we are reminded of God’s constant presence, especially in the Eucharist. As a visitor, Fr. Suarez has left. God, as our constant companion, will never leave us.